Aurum Quest
by Menno Simons
Summary: Follow Jamie and his Cynderus as they journey through the region of Aurum, collecting badges and catching pokemon. R&R people!


Jamie wandered around town, looking into all the shop windows. Professor Aspen was gone out in the bush, so even though it was the day he'd scheduled to get his starting pokemon, Jamie had to wait. No matter, he'd get it soon, the aide at Professor Aspen's lab at said that the professor would be back in a few hours, max.

Broadleaf Town was stagnant, the population never rising above 1000. It had been this big fifty years ago, and would be this big fifty years from now. But the people that lived there would call it a 'paradise on earth'. Nestled into the foothills of the Providence Mountains, it was always getting a warm breeze from the coast. No criminals ever bothered coming there; nothing ever threatened their way of life.

And Jamie liked it too. He wanted adventure, sure, but he was only a kid, 14 years old, barely old enough to get his first pokemon. He'd heard that in other regions to the south you could start at ten, but Jamie wouldn't want to anyway. Ten was far too young, in his opinion.

Word had it that Aspen had just gotten a shipment of rare pokemon from the far eastern parts of Aurum, the region that Broadleaf Town was in and home to the Aurum Pokemon Challenge.

"Hey Jamie!" A voice called out, and Jamie turned to see his friend Viktor come out of his house at the end of the street. Viktor had gotten his pokemon three weeks earlier and left soon after, but was back to visit his family for the weekend. Unlike Jamie, Viktor was an adventure nut. He'd jump off a cliff just to see if he could survive the fall.

"I hear you got your pokemon already! What is it?" He asked excitedly as he ran up the steps.

"Actually, I haven't gotten it yet. Old Aspen's out in the bush, so I've got to wait." Jamie told him as he kept walking.

"Well, he's back now. I saw him hiking into town not five minutes ago."

"Really?" Jamie asked, turning around to head to the lab.

"Yup. Go get your starter, mate!"

Jamie needed no one to tell him twice.

It was about half a kilometre from Viktor's house to the lab, and Jamie ran most of it. But as he rounded up onto the last street his body got the best of him, he slowed down, and his breathing got heavy.

As he knocked on the door, Jamie tried to slow his breathing. He didn't want the professor to think he couldn't manage a little run, let alone a pokemon journey!

"Who is it?" The professor called in a deep voice.

"Jamie Townsend."

"I don't know any Jamie!" The professor called, and Jamie heard a deadbolt being closed on the other side of the door.

"I'm here to pick up my pokemon! I made an appointment!" Jamie sighed.

"Oh, yes. Of course." Aspen muttered as he slid open the deadbolt and let Jamie into the lab. Jamie couldn't help but notice the shotgun in the professor's hands. "This way, please."

Professor Aspen led him down a long hallway and to a door that opened up to the laboratory courtyard, where pokemon were sleeping, playing and eating.

"We've got three rare pokemon for you to choose from, lad. Now, I assume you have your papers?"

"Er, yea, I do. Just a moment…" Jamie said as he pulled a wad of paperwork out of his back pocket.

"Hmph. Complete disrespect for paperwork." Aspen said under his breath, just loud enough for Jamie to hear.

"Ah, sorry sir."

"Anyways, this all looks up to snuff. Now then, the three pokemon for you to choose from are over here." Aspen explained as he walked down the hill to a little clearing where a group of small pokemon were playing.

"We've got Cynderus, the fire dog pokemon." Aspen said, nodding towards a small, black and orange dog like pokemon with small, sharp teeth and sharp, pointy ears. It was black all over its body except for its underbelly, which was orange. "He's aggressive and may be harder for new trainers to reign in, but the payoff is a very powerful pokemon in the end. As far as I can see, he knows Tackle, Scratch, Ember and Growl at this point."

"This is Weaver, the beaver pokemon." He said next, pointing to a furry brown pokemon with large, buckteeth and a flat tail. Its fur was thick all over, and it had blue eyes that stood out. "He's a more passive pokemon and very easy to train, but once he's done evolving he's definitely a force to be reckoned with. I believe he can use Tackle, Water Gun, Bite and Tail Whip."

"And finally, there's Cacteye, the cactus pokemon." Aspen said, showing him a green pokemon with spikes all over it and one large, purple eye in the middle. This one was bigger than the others, but looked half asleep. "It's very passive right now, but as it evolves it learns Psychic attacks that make it quite strong. So far it only seems to know Rest and Growl."

_Oh yeah, I want THAT pokemon,_ Jamie thought sarcastically. _Who in their right mind would pick a starter that couldn't fight? _

"Well, these are all rare pokemon Jamie, so choose carefully. You may never see any of them again on your quest." Professor Aspen said, and Jamie got the feeling it was something he told all new trainers, even if they didn't all get these specific pokemon.

"I'll take Cynderus then." Jamie said, picking up the small dog. "Okay?"

"Good choice. Now, Let's just go finish your paperwork…"

0o0o0o0o0

After a long half hour of paperwork Jamie had Cynderus in a pokeball in his jeans pocket, along with five empty ones. Aspen had given him a Pokedex and map of Aurum, so he was ready to go.

Jamie stopped off at his house to say goodbye to his family and pick up his backpack before heading out.

"Jamie, why not stay here for night? It's already getting dark, and you can get a hearty breakfast here before starting off. How does that sound?" His dad asked as Jamie got up to leave.

"Great!"

As Jamie lay in bed, Cynderus in his pokeball on the night table beside him, his mind wandered. Would he be a good trainer? Would he catch any pokemon? Would Cynderus like him?

But before any of this could really take hold of him, he fell asleep.

0o0o0o0o0

So y'all, what d'you think? Was it good and stuff?

R&R, people.


End file.
